My painting of a Black Phoebe was included in a book of poetry with the accompanying poem by
Patricia J. Machmiller-
the solitude
of the soon-to-be groom
lingering day
‘Black Phoebe’ 16” x 16” watercolor on canvas
Black Phoebe
The Black Phoebe is a common flycatcher on the West Coast. It is easily found in and around the San Francisco-San Jose area all year. Most of the time when we are doing local birding we will see one or two them. They tend to use low spots from which to do their fly catching, rocks, fence posts and the like, flying off a perch, grabbing an insect and then usually returning to the same perch. It’s my observation that they like green grassy areas, perhaps because of the type of insects that lawns draw. Since the drought in California and home owners have converted to xerophytic gardens I am seeing less of this species where in the past they were common.
Dipper Painting
This was my first painting of an American Dipper which was inspired by a visit to Yosemite National Park five years ago. I’ve painted a few since then; I’m inspired every time we come across one in the Sierras.
American Dipper 6” x 6” watercolor on wood panel
American Dipper
American Dipper seen near Alyeska, Alaska
I love these birds. Seeing your first one ejecting from a heavy white-water rapid on a roaring mountain river is like viewing magic. This bird finds its food by flying down to the bottom of swiftly moving streams and walks upstream on the bottom hunting for insects. Many times I have seen them leave the water with a large insect larva in their beaks. Note the huge toenails that assist this bird in holding onto the bottom of creeks and rivers. One tough little bird.
Pygmy Nuthatches
It was such fun to come across a group of Pygmy Nuthatches on our trip to the Sierras last June. These tiny birds make me smile and needed to be part of a painting.
Pygmy Nuthatches 10” x 20” acrylic on wood panel
House Finches
This is a paintings I’m just finishing up. House finches are common in our area and they are fun to work with in paintings. In this piece I played with them among eucalyptus leaves which also have reddish accents.
‘House Finches and Chickadee’ 22” x 28” acrylic
Canyon Wren
The plaintive song of the Canyon Wren reverberates in canyons of the Western United States. They are not too shy so they make reasonable photo subjects. They are uncommon in Santa Clara County, California. Last I heard there are two known Canyon Wrens in the county. A beautiful wren with a white throat and rusty-red uppers.
House Sparrows
I don’t have many paintings of this bird and had to go back a few years to find this one. These are not my favorite bird, but it is fun to watch them in the restaurant eating area behind my gallery in Los Altos.
House Sparrows and Chair 12” x 12” watercolor
The Grasshopper Sparrow
This small bird is very difficult to see. In breeding season it can be heard, but barely. The pitch of its song is very high and has an insect-like buzz to it. If it’s a windy day, they are difficult to hear.
Snowy Egret
I don’t have any exotic birds to follow Dave’s post but here is a painting of a common bird I recently completed. Snowy Egrets are a great subject to work with and I had fun placing this one amid tangled splashy branches.
Snowy Egret 16” x 20” acrylic on wood panel
The Green Turaco
The Green Turaco - Tauraco persa
Well, so far, all my photos were taken in the wild. I will try to adhere to this concept, but I had to post this one because it is such an unusual looking bird. It is found in Central-Western Africa. Technically it is the species Tauraco persa buffoni, the only subspecies that does not have a thin white line below the eye.
This photo was taken at the Bloedel Conservatory, Vancouver, BC.
Great Horned Owl
We can count on finding these on our yearly winter trip to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, but this last winter we came across two together and the scene suggested this painting.
16” x 16” acrylic on canvas
The Northern Pygmy-Owl
Northern Pygmy-Owl with vole
Northern Pygmy-Owl with head turned showing fake “eyes” on back of head.
A fellow birder and I were walking in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Central California. We had froze in a field surrounded by scrubby willow to get a view of a Wilson’s Warbler. Out of nowhere, this bird lands next to us, probably within about 6 feet. It could barely fly. I estimated that the vole was about 2/3 of the owl’s weight. It stared at us while we took photos. We backed off and it dropped the vole. We kept going in hopes that it retrieved its prey.
Bewick's Wren II
This is another painting inspired by a Bewick’s Wren.
‘Bewick’s Wren’ 16 x 16 watercolor on wood panel
Bewick's Wren
Bewick’s Wren’s reside in our year round and I wonder how they feel when the orioles show up in the spring.
‘Spring Visitor to a Wren’s World’ 24” x 18” watercolor
The Carolina Wren
This small wren of the eastern parts of the United States and eastern parts of Mexico is very noisy for its size. Its loud “tea-kettle tea-kettle” song lights up forests during the breeding season. They are hard to see because they favor brush thickets, but hearing them is not a problem when they are singing.
Photographed at El Franco Lee Park, Houston, Texas.
Green-tailed Towhee Sketch
This is the third year in a row we have found Green-tailed Towhees among the flowering manzanita shrubs in the Sierras. I love the various greens and the way the orange cap of the towhee mirrors the orange in the manzanita branches.
Towhee and manzanita sketch 2019
The Green-tailed Towhee
A strange looking bird indeed. In the summer this species is common in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of California. It prefers relatively dry shrubby mountain slopes. Early in the breeding season they can be located by their unique song.
Mountain Warblers
Some warblers enjoy the heights. These are two we found a couple weeks ago in the mountains in SE Arizona.
Warbler sketch May, 2019
Cooper's Hawk Painting
Last fall, this neighborhood raptor took to hanging out in the pomegranate tree, where he could easily keep track of birds at the feeders.
Cooper’s Hawk and Pomegranates 24” x 12” acrylic